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She groans, the sound affecting literally every inch of my body when I help her lean her head back and soak her hair with warm water.

She clings to me, hands on my hips as I run shampoo-covered hands through her hair.

I wash it twice because that's what it takes before the run-off water isn't tinged pink.

Next, I condition her hair before soaping up my hands with body wash and running them all over her body, careful of where I touch and how much pressure I use.

Once she's rinsed and stepping out, I make quick work of getting clean.

I fight the urge to help her dry off as I dry myself. She isn't helpless, and I don't want her to feel like she is, but it's so fucking hard to watch her struggle and not step in. I don't know where the line is, and we haven't really had a discussion about what happens going forward. I'm fearful of her telling me she isn't interested or trying to push me away if I come on too strong.

Tears fill her eyes, and I can tell she's trying to fight them as she angles her face toward the ceiling.

"Tell me what's wrong," I urge.

"How do I ever go back to that house?"

"You don't have to," I assure her.

"I don't have any clothes, Eddie. I don't sleep naked."

"Sweetheart,"I say, cupping her face. "I have an overnight bag, and you're welcome to anything in it."

"You just carry around an overnight bag?"

I shrug. "I've been on the move my entire life. I always have a go-bag. There are some T-shirts in there. Let's get you one."

"William wants me in DC with him," she says when we walk toward the bed.

She used my phone to call her brother and although I could hear her side of the conversation, I wasn't privileged to his.

"Is that what you want to do?" I ask, pulling a T-shirt from my bag for her and a pair of boxer briefs for myself.

I pull on my briefs and then help her with the shirt when it becomes clear that lifting her arms over her head is painful.

I climb into bed and open my arms to her. She turns off the bedside lamp before crawling slowly into my arms, struggling for a moment to get comfortable before settling against my chest.

I feel the tears from her eyes on my skin not a minute later.

"I don't have much to offer you, being a former fed, but from the sounds of it, I'm not unemployed. So that's a plus. Life with Cerberus won't look like anything you've ever experienced before, but I'd like you to consider it. You don't have to do a single thing alone, Cora. I'll be here as long as you'll have me."

"East Tennessee?" she whispers.

"Yeah," I say, knowing I'll have to have a very long conversation with both Hemlock and Kincaid about how things will work going forward.

"I love the mountains," she whispers, tears still leaking from her eyes.

Chapter 42

Cora

Despite waking up with every muscle aching, the first thing I notice is the warmth of his skin against mine.

We used the same soap and shampoo last night, but somehow his scent is different, intoxicatingly so.

His fingers flex on my lower back when I shift a little. It's insane to me how just being near him wakes up so many different parts of me. My life is a complete mess right now, but lying with him in this bed makes it all feel like a distant thing as if it happened to an alternate version of me.

The woman in bed with Eddie Yarrow right now isn't the same woman who lost a dear friend yesterday in such a brutal way. She isn't the one who lost her brother, because even though he's very much alive, he's not the man she loved. Sadie is gone. William won't be happy about her life choice.

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